I do
by you gave me forever
Summary: A marriage law. New Rules. What will become of those subject to this law? Includes: RoseScorpius, RoxanneLysander, AlbusAlice, and JamesOC.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

Albus's back screamed in protest when he stood up. He had been hit with a Bludger the day before, and now had a nasty ache that his pain relief potion refused to get rid of.

He glanced at the clock, realized that it was only noon, and sighed. Today at five, he had two hours serving at the Three Broomsticks. Until then, however, all that he could do was sit around and wait for five o'clock to roll by.

Grimacing, he walked across the small house he shared with his best mate, Scorpius, and grabbed an apple off the table. Taking a bite; he frowned, and tossed the severely bruised apple into the garbage.

"What the-?" Albus jumped as a thump came from his bedroom. He hurried into the room, and stared at the owl that had flown into the glass window. He opened the window, and glanced down at his mail before handing five knuts to the owl.

Placing aside The Quibbler, he turned to the letter in his hand. Brown envelope, ministry seal, it looked scarily intimidating. Albus found himself frantically wondering what it could be about. He was eighteen, old enough to use magic outside Hogwarts, he didn't own any dark artefacts, and he hadn't, to his knowledge, done anything illegal.

Fingers trembling, Albus carefully opened up the envelope and slid out the sheet of parchment.

_We, the ministry have created a new law enforcing that every wizard or witch who is turning sixteen by the end of September must be married. Anyone over the age of twenty-five is excluded, if they're in a long lasting relationship. The ministry has decided on the matches, and wedding date will be mailed within a week. Each couple must have at least one child by within two years of marriage._

_This law was created due to the fact that many wizards and witches have been choosing not to have children, and slowly, but surely, the wizarding race is dying out. Hopefully within a generation or two, the law will be lifted._

_You, Albus Severus Potter, have been paired with Alice Longbottom._

_Sincerely, the ministry._

For a moment, Albus's mind was a blur. _Marriage law. Alice and I. Everyone over sixteen. Lily. _

Wait. Lily.

Albus's mind cleared, had and he had ran back to the living room within seconds. He threw some floo powder into the fireplace, called out "Potter household!" and jumped in.

Albus burst into the kitchen. Lily sat at the table, holding her letter, a stunned look on her face. Ginny looked ready to murder anyone who came near her, and Harry was rubbing her back.

Albus jumped out of the fire, and ran over to Lily.

"Who- Who did you get paired with?"

Lily turned toward him. "Blake!"

Blake Boot was in Ravenclaw, and had been one of her closest friends for years. They had had something slightly romantic going on for a while.

Albus sighed in relief, hugging his little sister tightly.

"What about you, Al?"

Albus glanced back down at the crumpled piece of paper clenched in his hand. "Alice,"

Lily smiled. At least he knew Alice, she wasn't a complete stranger.

A pop came from behind, and they turned to see James apparating.

"Who do you have?" asked Lily.

"Sara Wood."

"Oh Godric, James…I'm so sorry."

Ginny hurried forward to wrap her arms around her eldest. It was well known that James had been dating Pisces Greengrass, the half-blood daughter of Daphne Greengrass, for over two years.

Everyone had always assumed that they would end up married, but now the only person James would be marrying was Sara, a Gryffindor chaser.

"I had been planning to propose to Pisces on Sunday." James said. He had been digging his nails into his palms so hard that red crescent marks stood out on his pale skin. "Who are you two paired with?"

"I'm with Alice, and Lily got Blake."

Forcing a pained smile, James said, "Congrats. I've gotta go, see you later."

With that, James was gone. Ginny exhaled.

"Poor James. How could they do that?"

Lily frowned, waving her letter around. "Can you believe it? I'm going to be going into my sixth year at Hogwarts, and I'm going to be married! AND I'LL HAVE TO HAVE A KID BY THE TIME I'M EIGHTEEN! What is wrong with the ministry?"

Harry shook his head. "Merlin. I mean, I would have thought it'd be everyone of age. But sixteen year olds, and even some fifteen year olds."

Suddenly thinking of something, Albus stood up. "I'm going to the Longbottom's, I better talk to Alice."

Nodding thoughtfully, Lily got up as well. "I should probably see Blake. I'll be back later."

The two of them left Ginny and Harry sitting in the kitchen, as all across the wizarding world people were learning who they had to be married to.

. . .

"WHAT? I'M MARRYING LYSANDER! HOW DARE THOSE STUPID BUGGERS FORCE ME TO MARRY LYSANDER SCAMANDER! He is the most obnoxious stuck up prat!"

Roxanne kicked the first thing she saw, a table. "Fuck! Ow…"

Fred raised his eyebrows at her. "Calm down, Roxy. I got paired with Samantha Clearwater, and you don't see me complaining."

"Yeah, but that's because you've liked her since you were in sixth year. Besides, Lysander's _ancient!"_

"Roxanne, he's twenty."

"Exactly!"

"And I'm twenty-two!"

"Yeah-you're even older!"

"Shut up. Come on, you at least have to try to make this work. He's only two years older than you, and he isn't that bad."

Rolling her eyes, Roxanne ripped the letter in half. Tossing it on the floor, she stomped on it before throwing in the fire. "Whose stupid idea was the law anyway? What idiot in the ministry thought this up?"

"Shit, Rox, I gotta go! It's my shift in the shop, and you know how dad gets when we're late."

"See ya,"

A minute after Fred left, there was a pop as someone apparated outside the house. The door creaked open, and footsteps creaked down the hall.

A head popped into the living room where Roxanne sat. Blonde hair, blue-green eyes. Lysander Scamander, past king of Hogwarts.

"Roxanne?"

Eyes narrowed, she motioned him in. "Sit down."

They sat in silence for a moment Roxanne occasionally shooting angry glances his way.

Eventually Lysander broke the silence. "I didn't plan for us to get paired, you know! I don't like it any more than you do. But we're stuck with it, so we might as well make the best of what we've got."

"I never said you planned on it!"

"You might as well have, with the way you were looking at me,"

"I'm _so so _sorry."

"I came here to talk, not fight!" Lysander said, aggravated.

"What is there to talk about?"

"Oh I don't know, the fact that we're getting married!"

"Yes, well, our marriage isn't exactly what I had in mind for the future." Roxanne tapped her fingers on the table impatiently.

"It's not like I asked for it."

"Yeah, but you didn't have anyone special."

"How are you to know that?"

"Common knowledge."

Rolling her eyes, Roxanne shifted uncomfortably, crossing her legs. "You would have been my last choice!"

"You think I wanted you, huh? Well here's some news: I'VE NEVER WANTED YOU IN THE SLIGHTEST, AND I NEVER WILL!"

That hurt. That really hurt. Roxanne's eyes stung as she yelled back. "OH YEAH? WHO DID YOU WANT, THEN?"

"Dominique." Lysander's voice lowered as he said the word, his eyes locked on hers.

Roxanne's breath whooshed out of her as if he had punched her. Her eyes filled with tears that, although she tried to hold them out, soon streamed down her cheeks. "YOU ASSHOLE! GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS HOUSE AND NEVER COME BACK! _I hate you." _

Lysander stormed outside, slamming the door behind him, and apparated.

Roxanne fell back onto the couch, curling up as she cried. Had he said Molly, or Rose, or any of her other cousins, she wouldn't have cared. But Dominique…her whole life, Dominique had beat Roxanne at everything.

Whether it was racing, flying, acting, drawing or who was the prettiest, Dom always won. A year older than her, with blonde hair, and a sweet face, scores of boys had followed Dominique around all her Hogwarts years.

Still sniffling, Roxanne closed her eyes and fell asleep on the couch.

. . .

"Christiana! I got paired with Christiana!" Hugo grinned as he finished reading his letter. He ran down into the living room.

Rose was perched on the arm of a couch. "I'm with Scorpius!"

"That's good! He's your best non-related friend, so you know he'll treat you good. And I'm with Christiana!"

"I hope everyone else got as lucky as us." Said Rose, suddenly frowning. "We should go and check with the rest of our cousins- that is, the ones the law applies to."

"You're right. Want to go see what Albus, Lily and James got?"

"Sure. We should check with Louis and Dom too."

"And Lucy and Molly."

"Come on, we can walk over to Lucy and Molly's." Rose slipped her shoes on as she spoke, and then stepped toward the door.

Hugo was practically bouncing. He had been with Christiana Creevey for six months, but had liked her for years. She was in the same house as him, Hufflepuff, and was a quiet girl who loved care of magical creatures.

They jogged down the path to their cousins, trying to stay in the shade. The heat was stifling, and Hugo was already sweating.

When the large white house came into view, they slowed to a walk. Lucy was sitting on the roof outside her window with a notebook. She waved, smiling at them.

"I got paired with some bloke named Tyler. We're meeting tomorrow." She pushed her notebook back through the open window, and scooted forward. Holding onto the edge of the roof, she lowered herself 'till she dangled by her fingertips before dropping with a soft thump.

"Hugo's with Christy, and I got Scorpius."

"Great!"

The door swung open, and Molly poked her head out. "C'mon in."

They walked inside, Hugo and Lucy heading for the kitchen, and Molly and Rose for Molly's room.

"Who're you with, Rose?"

"Scorp, thank Merlin."

"Lorcan."

"That's good, he's cool,"

They talked about meaningless things for a while before Rose glanced at the time.

"I should probably go now; I want to talk to Scorpius."

"Alright. See you, Rose."

"Bye." Rose hurried down the stairs.

Hugo was sitting at the table, drinking something. Knowing Lucy, Rose had no doubt the drink involved firewhiskey.

"I'm gonna go, Hu, do you want to come?"

"I'll stay for a while. Bye,"

She waved, turning to walk out the door before pausing. "Can I use your floo?"

"Go ahead," Lucy motioned to the fireplace behind her. "The powder's in the little pot on top of the mantle."

Grabbing a handful of powder, Rose tossed it in, "Albus and Scorpius's flat!" She stepped in, and whirled away.

When she stumbled out of the fireplace, she found Scorpius sitting at the table, his letter a few feet away.

"Hey Scorp."

He turned, and smiled at her. "Rose!"

Rose hugged him tightly. "Can you believe we're getting married?"

"I know!" he grinned, spinning her around. "I'm so glad it was you!"

"I'm glad it was you, too."

"Rosie, I know you've only thought of me as a friend, but I've liked you as more for a while. I've loved you as a friend, or a sister since I was eleven, but I can and will love you as a husband. Most of the other couples will have to work to love each other, but I already love you."

"I love you too, Scorpius. Maybe I'm not in love with you yet, but I love you, and that's good enough."

Scorpius kissed her lightly on the cheek. Rose stood up, and Scorpius wrapped his arm around her. "C'mon Rosie, let's go for a walk."

Smiling, Rose nodded, and they walked out into the hot summer street.


End file.
